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Ron Finley

Ron Finley

The Gangster Gardener

A renowned rebel with a green thumb, Ron Finley is widely known as the Gangster Gardener.

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Bio

Full Bio

A renowned rebel with a green thumb, Ron Finley is widely known as the Gangster Gardener. After growing up in the South Central Los Angeles food prison – a geographic location where access to healthy food options is extremely limited or nonexistent – Finely is intimately familiar with the impacts of a lack of fresh produce. In 2010, he set out to fix the problem by planting vegetables in neglected dirt patches, and after being cited by the city of Los Angeles for gardening without a permit, he fought back and won – starting a petition with fellow green activists and demanding the right to garden and grow food in his neighborhood. Finley has shared his bold and tender vision for communities – and a world – transformed through gardening at events with groups like Netflix, Chase, Cornell University, Google, Salesforce, and Amazon.

Finely has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Oprah Daily, on The Ellen Show, and more, as his passion for agriculture and food equity continues to resonate with audiences of all kinds. In 2020, he created one of the most popular classes on the Masterlass platform – with over 9M views, it was the most-watched course of the year. The Gangster Gardener founded the Ron Finley Project, an organization that spreads the movement for urban gardening and turning food deserts into food sanctuaries. Heralded for his humor and his profound message, Finley leaves audiences feeling empowered to explore new knowledge and increase their wellbeing, togetherness, and freedom through gardening.

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Topics

Topics

Sustainability: Gardening for a Better World

Urban Renewal: From Food Prisons to Food Forests

Message of Empowerment for Young Audiences & Parents

Videos

Videos

A guerilla gardener in South Central LA | Ron Finley
MasterClass Live with Ron Finley | MasterClass

Books

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